2022-10-08: Finding My Religion
- Log: Finding My Religion
- Cast: Katriona, Lily Keil, Fei Fong Wong
- Where: Deku Isles
- Date: October 08, 2022
- Summary: Josie -- or Katriona, perhaps -- has come aboard the Karlsefni after the business at Antenora's tower and the reveals that had happened there. There are certainly a great many things to talk about, but first, there is the matter of breakfast. And, curiously, religion.
<Pose Tracker> Katriona has posed.
"So, what do you lot do about these parts these days for a meal?"
This had, predictably, been Katriona's first question once the aftermath of the retreat from the Diablo Tower had been sorted out and accomplished -- well that, and the general wound-tending, and the part where she did take a good long nap in the room that had been offered.
If she's worried they might attempt to get a little revenge of their own in the night, though, she's sure not showing it.
And indeed, come morning, Katriona has -- after the various tensions and reveals and death of the day before -- but one thing on her mind.
Well, probably two things on her mind, but it's too early to seriously drink even for her.
Uncharacteristically, her hair's loose around her shoulders. Out of the braid and bun, it's not only long but rather unruly, as if the braid had been the only thing to -- barely -- rein it in.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
What does Lily do for a meal?
She gets out another ration bar, of course. Still wrapped, she extends it towards Katriona. "These aren't bad, even if they are from Guild Galad. The packaging is particularly unique--designed to keep them fresh for a long time, as long as they're unopened.
'Fresh'. Well, maybe that's a word that could describe some of the ingredients, at some point in their existence, but it may be best not to ask too many questions.
Lily's recovering a bit; she still has those usual black eyes after using a whole lot of magic at once, but is otherwise casual, reading through a technical manual as she sits at the breakfast table. Well... SHe was reading it.
Now she is looking at Katriona.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong is cooking some Hob Steak with his hand by shooting fire at it from his hands. He is holding it by the bone and nearly drops it when he spots Katriona stepping in. Katriona chided him over inviting her over in the first place--maybe Fei should be more careful about that sort of thing--but what was he going to do? Just be like 'okay seeya!'?? That would've been pretty wild!!
He sets down the charred meat on the breakfast table though he scootches it over a bit to give Lily some space without having to deal with potential grease splatter.
"Hey, uh--Kat? Do you prefer Kat or Katriona or...?"
He looks to Lily, then back to Katriona.
"I can split this with you, it's not too tasty but."
<Pose Tracker> Katriona has posed.
Katriona looks down at the ration bar.
She looks at it long and hard.
"...Huh," she says, somewhat nonplussed. "Huh. Well... when in Guild Galad," she continues after a moment's further study of the ration bar, and unwraps it carefully. This isn't at the top of her list, as far as breakfasts go, but neither is it at the bottom. After all, she's gone scrounging in refuse before for a meal.
Wheeling out of the way of Fei and his roast Hob -- "Careful there, Junior!" -- she takes a seat at the breakfast table. Barely has she taken a bite, though, that she is aware that she's the object of some scrutiny.
"...Don't worry. I'll be out of your hair again 'afore long, right?" she tells Lily, grinning lopsidedly. "Might as well have gotten a good night's sleep first." She glances towards Fei and shrugs. "Can't say no, yeah?"
Her shirt's partially unbuttoned. Something silver on a leather thong catches in the light.
"Kat," she says automatically. "That's what I was called growin' up, right. Ain't the most exciting nickname, but then, neither's Josie." She smiles, thinly.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily is not cooking with her magic. ...This may be for the best. Considering how well it's turning out fo Fei.
"See?" Lily says of the bar, waiting for Katriona to try it. Then she looks at Fei who finishes cooking. "I'm fine," Lily says. "I already have this. Good work though. Hard to focus fire like that."
Chomp. Chew, chew. Lily looks to that silver something for a moment, and back up to Katriona's face again. A good night's sleep...
"Kat, then," Lily answers. "And you don't need to rush off."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei would love it if Katriona could just stick around forever but he doesn't want to press the matter too strongly either. He isn't the one who is closest to her, is he? And it's hard to say how Leon thinks of all this. He can keep stuff pretty close to his chest. And Lily...
Lily just flat out shares her opinion.
"Of the same mind there," He says.
His cheeks have reddened a bit from the chastizement. He blows out a lingering flame on his index finger.
"Alright, I'll carve a good chunk off," Fei says working with a knife. "Kat it is then. I guess my name doesn't really garner nicknames easy, but I suppose there's still Junior huh?"
<Pose Tracker> Katriona has posed.
"Well, then," she says, eyeing the bar Lily is already working on. "Keep on keeping on and all that! ...Though I gotta say, I do worry 'bout your tastebuds sometimes, Rose-of-Sharon." She's seen the sorts of rations Lily favors, after all... and she has her concerns.
She raises her hands towards the both of them, palms-forward. "Alright, alright, I ain't goin' nowhere. No need to worry your pretty little heads, yeah?" she says, before breaking off another chunk of the bar. "Anyway," she says, once she's swallowed, "what's eating you, kiddo?" she says, gesturing towards Lily with her now partially-eaten bar. "Rather'n what you're eating, anyway!"
Let it never be said that Katriona avoided making the odd Dad Joke.
Fei makes a claim about his own name. Katriona arches one pale eyebrow.
"Trust me, kid... I can nickname you all day." The half-smile suggests that he might even regret it.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily is good at sharing her opinions! But sometimes she is mystified by statements that should seem obvious. This is one of those scenarios. "What's to worry about?" she wonders. "I assume that they regenerate as thoroughly as the rest of me when damaged."
But Fei agrees. And that's fine. "Good," Lily says to Katrina as she says she's not going anywhere for the moment. but what's eating her..?
"...Heh." The nicknames. "...Mm." As for what's bothering her...
"Mostly the usual. Excess magic to burn off. And... I'm concerned. We didn't find my father there, but he's still out there somewhere."
"And.." Pause. "I'm... glad to see you're still here."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei pours some hob steak onto Kat's plate. It's going to take him forever to mentally correct to Kat. BUT IT IS IMPORTANT THAT HE DOES IT. Gotta respect people's NAMES otherwise people will start calling him all sorts of stuff he doesn't want to be called. Like Demon of Elru. Or Id. Or Lamb.
Fei frowns faintly as he forks some hob steak.
"Worse than Junior?" Fei asks because he can't help himself but he's smiling because he apparently is a glutton for punishment.
"It's...actually strange we haven't seen him in so long huh...?" Fei says. "And with how Odessa's going..."
<Pose Tracker> Katriona has posed.
Katriona grimaces, only to shake her head. "Sometimes I feel sorry for him," she sighs. "Anyway, forget it, Tiger," she says, leaning back in her seat.
Lily's concerned about her father, though--
"...That business about him being there? Well..." she shifts in her seat a touch, as if uneasy. "That was a lie. Had to lure you lot somehow, right? But like I said, I know his business, more or less. He was in with Ptolomea's lot. Which, given the way thing's're going Odessa-wise..."
She's taken a deep breath and turned her eyes up towards the ceiling. "...This is just me spit-ballin', but I wouldn't be half-surprised if he turned up in charge of Ptolomea's men. Or something-like. Seems like there's sudden a lot of job openings, and ain't he but a go-getter..."
She takes a bite from her ration bar and chews thoughtfully.
"Worse than Junior..." She pauses. "...Shortstack."
Well, he was warned.
Lily, thought, tells her something patently embarrassing. "You keep up with that, Tiger, and your boy's gonna find he's been scooped," she teases.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"All right." A pause. "Yes, I remember you lied. But it makes me wonder where he actually is." She considers. Ptolomea's... "Yes, that would make sense. When he was thinking to try to recruit me, he mentioned the military angle most strongly."
"...I see. So if we track them..." Lily considers. "That's a good angle." Then--
Shortstack. Heh.
"He's good at hiding; after all, he ran special forces. He's very good at not being seen, along with his soldiers. But--"
Lily frowns. "I didn't..." She frowns more. "I just meant..."
Lily is not usually put off-balance! "...It's fine," she settles on.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Shortstack? I'm not short," Fei says. "I mean I'm not... huge but... 5'8 is pretty..."
He sighs. "Shoulda stuck with Junior." He frowns. He WAS WARNED but... "Ptolomea said his men were gone. Most of em at least. But it wouldn't be the first time he threw away folks working with and for him huh..."
He still doesn't understand why, though. Just because Lily has some spectacular power? Sure, she's bloody dangerous but there's a million bloody dangerous things in Filgaia, including his alter ego, including any number of things. There's so much power in this world...
Is that really all he is seeking? Well, he wouldn't be unique in that regard he supposes.
Katriona says something odd. "Scooped?" He asks.
He is not used to seeing Lily... offbalance.
<Pose Tracker> Katriona has posed.
It's almost like old times. Almost.
"Short enough," Katriona, who is six feet even, counters. ...Better hope she won't make this a thing. Even 'Junior' might just sound better by comparison.
"That so?" she says, when Fei mentions that Ptolomea had said his men were gone. "If you didn't face him then or none, he must've cleared out before the shit hit the fan." Katriona frowns. "Except... didn't hear nothin' 'bout a deserter, though, so he probably did it through proper channels, like. Or somesuch," she continues, shrugging. "Point is... he's the ambitious type, and Odessa's like as not hurting for leaders. That's at least three of 'em dead, now?" It wasn't as if the word about Judecca's demise had reached her ears any. "If he don't jump ship, he'll rise right to the top, yeah?"
But a few words leave someone like Lily off-balance and Kat's response is to smile at her almost gently and rise to lean across the table to pat a hand. The movement makes the pendant slip free from her shirt--
Both Fei and Lily would know the Nisan cross at a glance.
"Don't you worry yourself about it or none, kiddo," she tells Lily.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily grins at Fei, briefly. He should've stuck with Junior. But...
"Hm. If he said that..." She nods, thougthfully. "Yes. We can expect him to do something, anyway. Even if all he did was work with Odessa for a while, he still has that Golem..."
Power. Lily doesn't know why. But she doesn't go, for the moment. Instead she ges patted on the hand and seems more confused rather than less for a moment, until she sees the Cross.
"...All right," Lily answers, a little dubious. "...Well, speculation doesn't help too much. I'll try to find some answers."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei glances and spots the cross.
"Are you a believer, Kat?"
He doesn't complain further in the hopes that Shortstacks doesn't get stuck in her memory. Maybe if she gets inebriated enough... He's now in the life where he is envious of Junior. Sigh.
He doesn't get further clarification and totally pouts a bit but doesn't press further.
"I guess I could see that. I mean only so many people would work for 'The King of Evil'. I figure." He frowns. "I guess."
He lowers his head. "Hopefully."
<Pose Tracker> Katriona has posed.
"Don't you know it," Katriona sighs, shaking her head at the thought of Lily's father's ambitions. "But that's all she wrote, or something like -- I don't know anymore. Trailin' Odessa's your best bet for now, if'n you lot are keen to get up his, eh, well, you get the idea," she says, waving a hand dismissively before her. Best not to entirely finish that remark, perhaps.
Maybe he'll cut himself loose and strike out on his own. Or maybe he'll take advantage of the situation and claim a good slice of the pie for himself. Vinsfeld might be in a tight spot, but he does still have an ancient war machine at his disposal... and that's before accounting for the others up in Odessa -- Ganondorf and his like.
Maybe it's better not to talk about how they totally murdered an ancient enemy of Ganondorf's at his behest. Not just yet, anyway.
"Huh?"
Katriona has seated herself once again. Glancing downwards, she notices that her cross has slipped free.
"...Yeah," she says, taking it in hand. "Most of my life, matter of fact. The Warrior of Light's the usual faith back home, but..." She grimaces, and shakes her head. "Me 'n sis found our own lights. She found something to believe in with the Guardianists, but I... Seemed right enough to wear it, now that I'm 'me' again."
She slips it back into her shirt. "Why, does it seem strange? A sinner like me?" She's smiling at least when she says it.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"I get the idea," Lily agrees. Whatever he does, they'll have to figure it out. But for right now... Lily looks to Fei, and then back to Katriona. She considers the answer. The own lights...
"No," Lily says. "It doesn't seem strange to me," she says quietly. She has reasons for that.
"...Lots of people can justify why 'evil' isn't so bad. It's a metaphor, or it's really about strength, or any number of things."
"...But I don't think things are that simple anyway."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Not at all," Fei says. "From what I understand, the religion's perfect for a sinner like you."
Fei draws out his own Nisanite cross, showing it to Katriona. And then, slowly, his lips twist into a perfect shit eating grin. Maybe 'Josie' stopping Id back at the Photosphere was poetic in ways unknown at the time.
He brings his hand to his forehead and just laughs a bit. It isn't a sneering sort of laugh, more a 'well doesn't that just beat all' sort of laugh.
<Pose Tracker> Katriona has posed.
That religion is perfect for a sinner like her.
Her response is to laugh, herself, an expression coupled with the wide, wide shrug she manages, arms extended. "Don't I know it," is Katriona's remark there. "And, anyhow, ain't like the faith's all that down on sinners. Just need another arm up, or wing up, as the case may be, yeah?"
There was a reason she'd been drawn to it, even back then. Even before she'd really known what it meant to have her hands dirty.
"Nah," she says at last. "Leave the black and white to them that thinks that way."
She neither includes nor excludes herself from that line of thinking. She has some messes to clean up after and debts to repay, sure, but she'll always remain herself: a complicated woman (sing, O muse).
But in this moment she's content enough to lean back in her chair and simply exist.